Stella promoted amid McLaren F1 restructuring
McLaren has completed a reshuffle of its senior staff in preparation for the start of the 2020 Formula 1 season, Motorsport.com has learned, with long-time engineering chief Andrea Stella promoted to racing director.
On the back of an encouraging 2019 campaign that ended with the Woking-based outfit finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship, team principal Andreas Seidl is pushing hard to improve things further so it can make a step this season.
Part of Seidl’s effort has gone in to ensuring that there is a well understood management structure in place, with clear responsibilities and roles laid out.
Following an in-depth analysis of how best to tweak things, Stella has been moved from his previous role as performance director to take the racing director role – a position that Seidl had temporarily taken charge of while he decided on who was best placed to permanently take the role.
Stella will take charge of race engineering and operations functions at grand prix weekends, but will maintain the engineering responsibilities he had previously.
He will work closely with technical director James Key to ensure that there is good correlation between track performance and technical developments.
Paul James will continue in his team manager role and will report to Stella, while Piers Thynne will remain as production director.
The change has been made to better streamline the decision-making process both at the factory and on race weekends, with Seidl wanting to have the three main divisions reporting to him.
Speaking at the end of the season, and before the decision was made to move Stella in to a new role, Seidl said that he felt it essential that he put in place a clear management structure at McLaren.
“Since I started I put in place straight away a very clear traditional motorsport organisation with three big departments,” he told Motorsport.com.
“This was the technical engineering under the leadership of James Key, production under the leadership of Piers Thynne, which was an internal promotion, and then the racing side under the leadership of Andrea Stella as performance director and Paul James as team manager.
“It was important for me to have these characters straight from the beginning, because I like clear responsibilities and also clear reporting lines, plus an organisation which is easy to understand for the entire team.
“Now knowing how the regulations look, we’re in the middle of the process to really analyse for each of these departments how do we think they need to be shaped in the future in order to extract the maximum as a team.”
Carlos Sainz Jr., McLaren MCL34
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images
Previous article
Vasseur: Giovinazzi Spa crash almost cost him his seat
Next article
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Teams | McLaren |
| Author | Jonathan Noble |
Why Bottas feels the time has come to be “more selfish”
We’ve seen five distinct versions of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes as he’s tried to fulfil his own ambitions while being a consummate team player – two difficult, competing missions which have been challenging to reconcile. Speaking exclusively to Stuart Codling, Bottas explains his highs and lows… and why he still believes he can be world champion.
How long can Verstappen and Hamilton keep it clean?
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been evenly matched so far in the 2021 Formula 1 title race. Neither has been afraid to get aggressive against each other on track, teeing up an enthralling contest as the year unwinds. But how long will their battle remain clean? Jonathan Noble ponders that exact point
How Brabham’s one-hit wonder was boxed into a corner
The Brabham BT46B raced once, won once, then vanished – or did it? STUART CODLING reveals the story of the car which was never actually banned…
The changes Barcelona needs to provide a modern-day F1 spectacle
Formula 1’s visits to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya over recent years have been met with familiar criticisms despite tweaks here and there to the track to improve racing. With the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix largely going the same way, proper solutions need to be followed to achieve F1’s wider targets
Spanish Grand Prix Driver Ratings
Often described as Formula 1's laboratory, the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona gave the clearest demonstration yet of the pecking order in 2021. And it's the key discrepancies from that order which illuminate who is excelling, and who needs to hit the reset button.
How Red Bull's deja vu set Hamilton on the winning path in Spain
An aggressive first corner move from Max Verstappen appeared to have set the Red Bull driver on course for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix. But canny strategy from Mercedes - combined with the absence of Red Bull's number two from the lead group - allowed Lewis Hamilton to pull off a demoralising reversal
The Barcelona practice times that prove Red Bull has hidden pace
Lewis Hamilton led the way in Friday practice for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, but there was one major encouraging sign for Red Bull. However, making good on that gain will require Max Verstappen to avoid repeating a mistake that left him well down the FP2 order...
Why McLaren doesn’t doubt Ricciardo can escape his ‘dark’ place
Three points finishes from as many starts represents a decent opening innings on paper, but Daniel Ricciardo has endured a tough start to his McLaren career - only magnified his teammate's excellent form. Yet both he and the team have good reason to expect a turnaround soon.
